INVISIBLE CREATURE (1960)
aka The House in Marsh Road
Article 3091 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-3-2009
Posting Date: 1-30-2010
Directed by Montgomery Tully
Featuring Tony Wright, Patricia Dainton, Sandra Dorne
Country: UK
What it is: Ghost story

A woman inherits a house haunted by a poltergeist. She accepts the existence of the poltergeist, but her drinking cad of a husband doesn’t believe and mocks its existence, thus offending it. Then, when the man gets attached to another woman, he decides to kill his wife for the money he can get selling the house…

There are moments when I really admire the efficiency and clarity of some parts of this movie; scenes will sometimes only go on long enough to establish the necessary plot point before swiftly moving on to the next scene and the next plot point. Had the movie had a complex, difficult plot, this efficiency would have done wonders for keeping the story moving and keeping the plot clear for the viewer. Alas, the plot is anything but complex; in fact, once the primary plot elements establish themselves as they do in the plot summary I supply above, what happens is utterly predictable and by-the-numbers, and the efficiency ends up making the movie feel perfunctory. With this sort of movie, a more colorful, flavorful and quirky presentation would have been helpful. Still, despite its predictability, the movie still has a couple of nice moments; my favorite sequence is when the poltergeist undertakes to warn the wife about the attempts on her life, as parts of this sequence are very cleverly handled. All in all, it’s passable, but uninspired.